That's a shame. A lot of municipalities see their libraries (and museums) as low-hanging fruit in times of financial distress. Often they're pared down to a bar

That's a shame. A lot of municipalities see their libraries (and museums) as low-hanging fruit in times of financial distress. Often they're pared down to a bare minimum of services: circulation. This is troublesome for many reasons, but the most important, in my opinion, is that libraries generally see an upsurge in use statistics during economic downturns. People go to the library to learn new skills (literacy, resume help and proofreading, etc.), to look for work, to escape into a good book and the company of their fellow man, and to just get away from their troubles. Programming should, and often does, provide just the targeted help they could use most.